


Promises and Stolen Kisses

by LelianasSong



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Comfort, F/F, Femslash February, Fluff, Kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-06
Updated: 2016-02-06
Packaged: 2018-05-18 12:50:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5929084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LelianasSong/pseuds/LelianasSong
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leliana is concerned for Josephine, who seems to be avoiding sleep for fear of her nightmares. A simple promise to help the Ambassador and Spymaster sleep takes a surprising and entirely pleasant turn.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Promises and Stolen Kisses

**Author's Note:**

> So it's Femslash February and I've been trying to write something all this week and finally this happened! There needs to be more Josiana in life I feel and well... voila. I hope you enjoy it~
> 
> I know I rated this T, but I think it could just be General Audiences but I don't know, I put it as T for safety I guess.

Josephine loved doing her work. It was enthralling, exhilarating and enriching all at once. Each word written, each meeting held and person met felt like a move forward into a new direction. A way she could affect the world in ways that were important, yet needed no blood to fall, nor any lives to be lost. It also kept her busy, which was essential, given the nightmares that had begun to plague her.

Even now, with the hold on her quill slacking and the weight of her weary head threatening to consume her, she wanted nothing more than to press on. There were missives to write, reports to read and succumbing to the nightmares of falling snow and the screams of villagers and workers alike was simply not something she wanted to replay in her mind. No matter how many nights past, no matter how many herbal teas or long soaked baths, the thoughts of Corypheus’ attack on Haven hung heavy in her mind. 

Skyhold was safer, but would that remain so? She had seen the plans, organised the work efforts, ensuring that she knew that they would be safer, that she could set her mind at ease. Yet not even that seemed to work. It seemed that for now, she would be plagued with the nightmares for some time, making sleep something that remained at the very bottom of her schedule.

“Are you staying up all night again, Josie?”

Looking up slowly from the pile of papers before her, Josephine smiled softly as she saw the Spymaster enter the room. Leliana’s face was creased in concern, a fact that was further revealed when she pushed the hood back from her face, revealing her slightly ruffled redhair and those brilliantly blue eyes that Josephine could remember getting lost in when she was younger. Those eyes had twinkled and shone with every laugh and passing note sung, rather than being shielded in their shrouded mystery. They held so much knowledge now, a cold veneer that hide the array of emotions that Josephine just knew were still dancing beneath.

She had seen them occasionally. Now, with Leliana cupping her face gently and tutting softly, she could see it now. That concern, that care that not many others saw; the emotions that let her know that she was still her friend, that she was cared for deeply and that would likely never change.

“You look exhausted. You need to get some rest,” Leliana pressed again, releasing Josephine’s face and placing her hands on her desk. “We need you at your best, not like this.”

“Are you only concerned about my ability to work, Leliana?” Josephine asked, a wry smile pulling at her lips as the Spymaster wrinkled her nose slightly.

“Of course not, Josie. Do not be so stubborn, you know I am right.”

“As you often say that you are,” Josephine chuckled, placing her quill down finally and clasping her hands together on the desk.

Sighing, Leliana shook her head, allowing tendrils of her short hair to fall over her face. It was strange to see her like this now, as Josephine could see the exhaustion that lay within her bones as well. Each movement seemed sluggish, each sigh drawn from whatever reserves she had left, no matter how dwindling. Josephine could not help herself when she reached forward, placing a hand over Leliana’s and squeezing gently. The Orlesian looked up, a small smile playing across her lips as she moved to lace their fingers together. A spark; unmistakable as Josephine had felt it once before, when things had been simplier. When she had simply been in awe of the court’s Nightingale, with her wits and charms and song. She would be lying if she said that she had not once thought of holding hands with Leliana like this, with intentions that felt sweet and heavenly, enticing and innocent all at once.

“If I promise to sleep, will you sleep as well?” Leliana finally said, her eyes twinkling in the flickering light of the fire. “I know you will not go unless I promise to as well.”

“I… I  _ might _ agree to such a thing,” Josephine said, frowning slightly at their interlaced hands. “But… Leliana, the nightmares persist and I do not wish to see what I know will be there when I close my eyes. Would you not rather stay and talk awhile?”

“I could fall asleep with you, if you would prefer? I will not let you get out of this that easily.”

“I couldn’t ask you to do that, Leliana,” Josephine protested, a faint blush creeping to her cheeks as she thought about sleeping beside Leliana, her arms wrapped around her waist and her breath so close that it would tickle upon her neck.

“You do not need to, Josephine. I am offering,” Leliana laughed, shaking her head. “Now, will you follow me to bed or will I have to make more promises to get you to forget this futile attempt at work. Did you not notice that you have addressed the wrong Comte in this letter? Or the fact that you have misspelt your own name.”

“I have not!” Josephine gasped, her eyes scanning the parchment quickly and finding no evidence of Leliana’s claims. 

Leliana giggled, her thumb rubbing gently along the back of Josephine’s hand. She seemed entranced for a moment, her eyes trained on where the pad of her thumb brushed against dark skin. Her smile and eyes were glazed as if her mind seemed far away, as if she were remembering another time and place entirely. Another world.

“I find myself unable to sleep properly without someone else there. Things have been trying and I can feel myself slipping. If not for yourself, then for me?” Leliana asked, smiling softly as her eyes lifted and burned into Josephine’s.

Well, now she had done it. There was no way she could say no to that and Leliana knew that very well. Sighing in defeat, Josephine nodded and allowed for Leliana to guide her up and out of her chair. Their hands were still laced, even as they walked through the halls of Skyhold. Perhaps Leliana had simply been too tired or she did not care whether anyone had seen them move from the Ambassador’s office and towards her chambers. Certainly, the only people awake at this time were night guards and the occasional servant hurrying around to complete their jobs before the dawn broke once more.

Josephine barely noticed her surroundings, her feet and head feeling far heavier than she had originally thought. It was hard to think, when her bed called to her through stone walls, begging for her to fall in its soft, pillowy depths and be encompassed by them. She barely paid attention as they finally reached her rooms and her and Leliana dropped each other’s hand in order to ready themselves for bed. It felt like a trance, taken over by the need to collapse that Josephine had not even noticed until now. Indeed, she did not seem to take note of what was happening until she was in her nightgown and she felt arms wrap around her waist from behind.

She gasped as breath tickled against her neck and a slender nose trailed gently up the side of her neck. It was intimate, far more so than any other hug that the two women had shared before. Her heart skipped a fraction in her chest, her breath held as she waited to see what her friend would do next. Would those lips get closer? Would her hands move to places that Josephine found herself willing the Spymaster to move them?

It was completely ridiculous how these thoughts seemed to appear, wriggling out of the woodwork of times long forgotten. When slow dances and conversation and laughter had led a young Josephine’s wine-addled mind to concoct the most inappropriate images of the woman whom she could now call her friend. Now, it seemed no different, her mind working faster than it had done in what seemed like hours. 

“Leliana…?” Josephine whispered, her hands clasping over Leliana’s over her waist.

“I… am sorry,” Leliana said, moving back as if she had been burnt. “I do not know what came over me.”

Smiling softly, Josephine turned around, a surge of courage burning through her unexpectedly as she reached up to kiss the former bard’s cheek. She could feel the way that Leliana’s body sagged slightly and leaned back just in time to see the smile that crossed her features.

“Perhaps we should sleep?” Josephine asked, as Leliana stifled a yawn. “We can talk of this in the morning.”

“Talk of what?” Leliana asked, with a mischievous glint in her eye.

Her hand reached up gently, caressing the side of Josephine’s face as both woman seemed to wait with baited breath. The walls around them seemed to almost drift away as Leliana licked her lips slightly, those shrouded eyes finally unveiling a mixture of emotions that threatened to steal Josephine’s breath away. They were so close now, with lips inches apart and Josephine’s hands reaching to her waist. It was as if they were stuck in a trance, unable to look away, unable to break whatever spell seemed to have been cast upon them.

“There are other ways to forget unpleasantness, Josephine,” Leliana said, her lips quirking into a smirk. “Perhaps, if things go well, we could indulge in them?”

“I… you would want to?”

“I have wanted to since we pinned those smallclothes to a Chanter’s board all those years ago. Now that I have you in my company so often… well, it is hard to resist, no?” Leliana laughed huskily, her lids dropping slightly as her gaze fell to Josephine’s lips.

The Antivan blushed, her hands gripping on Leliana’s waist tighter for a moment before she felt the distance close and the earth move. It was soft, as she had always thought it would be, as if simply waiting for Josephine to stop whatever it is they were doing. This could be foolish, to start something such as this in a world that threatened to be ripped apart, when their lives were busy and filled to the brim with stress and fear. Yet, as Josephine felt Leliana cup the back of her neck, pulling her closer and gliding her lips enticingly against her own, she thought that perhaps this was the perfect time to do such things. 

Time seemed to move slowly, as Josephine fell within the kiss and ignored the rest of the world. She did not know when her hair had been let down for example, or when their gentle kisses had become far more desperate and insistent. Leliana guided her down onto the bed, allowing them both time to move under the covers before cupping one side of Josephine’s neck and kissing the other. A soft moan fell from the Ambassador’s lips, as Leliana smirked against her skin, trailing kisses until she reached the fabric of her nightgown.

“At this rate, we will not sleep a wink,” Josephine giggled, her fingers threading delicately through Leliana’s hair.

“You are right…” Leliana sighed, pulling away slowly. 

She smiled, pressing a final kiss to Josephine’s lips before entwining their legs and wrapping her arms protectively around her. It was a sweet embrace and it eased the fear of her dreams considerably. The solid warmth of Leliana’s body felt like a blanket of security, bundling her up in the promise of safety and a peaceful night’s sleep.

“Goodnight, Leliana,” Josephine whispered, pressing a lazy kiss to Leliana’s collar bone. “Will you be here when I wake?”

“Do you want me to be?”

“Yes, if you please,” Josephine murmured, nestling slightly into the pillow beneath her.

“Then I shall be here, Josie. I promise.”

Josephine smiled at that, nodding in assent and allowing her eyes to close. It was strange to feel Leliana so close, to hear the steady rhythm of her heart and the gentle breaths that seemed to slow as the woman fell asleep. It certainly wasn’t how she pictured this evening going. If she had gone to bed, she would have expect it to be alone and not within the arms of the woman whom she had called her dear friend for so long. It wasn’t unpleasant though. Far from it, in fact. Josephine found herself wishing that Leliana would sleep beside her every night. That their kisses would grow in number and their embraces last for hours.

She found herself longing for it almost as much as she longed for sleep to overtake her. It made her burdens lighter, her chest brimming with a warmth like no other as she concentrated on the feeling of Leliana’s arms around her. Perhaps sleep would not feel so daunting if this was what met her every night and Maker, did Josephine hope that it would.


End file.
